1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the application of spray coatings to articles, and more particularly to booths which are used for the application of spray coatings to automobile components.
2. Description of Related Art
Spray booths are often used to apply coatings of paint to various articles such as automobile components. Such spray booths often have tracks or similar devices for bringing the component to be painted into the spray booth and then to carry the component through the spray booth. While the automobile component is within the spray booth, paint is either manually or automatically sprayed on the component. Once the component has been coated with paint, the component leaves the spray booth and may typically enter an oven where the paint is dried.
An undesirable characteristic often associated with the use of spray booths is that their walls may become coated with much of the airborne paint particles which do not adhere to the component being painted. Such airborne particles are generally known as "overspray." The presence of overspray is undesirable for several reasons. First, as overspray accumulates on the walls of a spray booth, the overspray tends to flake and peel away from the walls. These dirt balls or residue may then come into contact with an automobile as it is being painted thereby causing the coating of the paint applied to the vehicle to become nonuniform. Such nonuniformity may interfere with the appearance of the automobile to such an extent that at least a portion of the automobile must be repainted.
Secondly, the walls of the spray booths are often cleaned with certain solvents so as to remove the overspray on the walls. In this regard, it is not uncommon to clean the overspray after a period of as little as eight hours of continuous use (i.e., at the end of an eight-hour shift). As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, the process of cleaning a spray booth is a very time consuming process and may often cause the spray booth to be inoperable for a period of up to approximately 3-4 hours. In addition, there may be as many as 4-6 individuals which may have to be continuously used by one particular automotive manufacturing facility in order to clean the overspray from the spray booths of that facility. The use of solvents in the removal of overspray from the walls of spray booths may also cause a release of solvent vapors into the atmosphere. Such a release of solvent vapors may run afoul of environmental emission guidelines which may be established by the automotive manufacturer or by governmental agencies.